U.S. patent number 9,489,464 [Application Number 13/334,816] was granted by the patent office on 2016-11-08 for enhanced search engine.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Eurekster, Inc.. The grantee listed for this patent is Julian Malcolm Cone, Gary Lee Franklin, Michael Arthur Grantham, Wayne Alistair Munro, Grant James Ryan, Shaun William Ryan, William Ferguson Stalker. Invention is credited to Julian Malcolm Cone, Gary Lee Franklin, Michael Arthur Grantham, Wayne Alistair Munro, Grant James Ryan, Shaun William Ryan, William Ferguson Stalker.
United States Patent |
9,489,464 |
Cone , et al. |
November 8, 2016 |
Enhanced search engine
Abstract
A search engine system capable of displaying indicative
information to a user from searches performed by entities connected
directly or indirectly to the user, wherein said system includes at
least one host computer processor connectable to one or more
network(s), a database accessible over said network(s), a plurality
of data input devices connectable to said network(s) said search
engine being accessible over said network(s).
Inventors: |
Cone; Julian Malcolm
(Christchurch, NZ), Franklin; Gary Lee (Christchurch,
NZ), Grantham; Michael Arthur (Christchurch,
NZ), Munro; Wayne Alistair (Christchurch,
NZ), Ryan; Grant James (Christchurch, NZ),
Ryan; Shaun William (Christchurch, NZ), Stalker;
William Ferguson (Christchurch, NZ) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Cone; Julian Malcolm
Franklin; Gary Lee
Grantham; Michael Arthur
Munro; Wayne Alistair
Ryan; Grant James
Ryan; Shaun William
Stalker; William Ferguson |
Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch |
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A |
NZ
NZ
NZ
NZ
NZ
NZ
NZ |
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Assignee: |
Eurekster, Inc. (Christchurch,
NZ)
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Family
ID: |
34374471 |
Appl.
No.: |
13/334,816 |
Filed: |
December 22, 2011 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20120130976 A1 |
May 24, 2012 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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13029780 |
Feb 17, 2011 |
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10573401 |
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PCT/NZ2004/000228 |
Sep 22, 2004 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
16/90324 (20190101); G06F 16/951 (20190101); G06F
16/9535 (20190101); G06F 16/335 (20190101); G06F
16/3334 (20190101); G06F 16/435 (20190101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
17/30 (20060101) |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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1288795 |
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Mar 2003 |
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EP |
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12888795 |
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Mar 2003 |
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EP |
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Other References
Kautz, et al., Referral Web: Combining Social Networks and
Collaborative Filtering, Mar. 1997, Communications of the ACM, vol.
40, No. 3. cited by examiner .
Vakkari, Pertti, Subject Knowledge, Source of Terms, and Term
Selection in Query Expansion: An Analytical Study, 2002,
Springer-Verlag, ECIR 2002, LNCS 2291, pp. 110-123, 2002. cited by
examiner .
Kautz, H. et al., "Referral Web: Combining Social Networks and
Collaborative Filtering", Communications of the ACM, vol. 40, No.
3, Mar. 1997, pp. 63-65. cited by applicant .
Pujol, J.M. et al., "Porqpine: A Peer-to-Peer Search Engine",
http://www.1si.upc.es/dept/techreps/ps/R03-6.pdf, May 1, 2004.
cited by applicant.
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Primary Examiner: Kinsaul; Daniel
Attorney, Agent or Firm: De Klerk; Stephen M.
Parent Case Text
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
13/029,780, filed on Feb. 17, 2011, which is a continuation of and
claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/573,401,
filed on Jan. 22, 2007, which is a national stage entry of
PCT/NZ04/00228, filed on Sep. 22, 2004, which claims priority from
New Zealand Patent Application No. 528385, filed Sep. 22, 2003, all
of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Claims
What is claimed:
1. A method of providing search suggestions to a user entity, said
method performed by a search engine system accessible over a
network, said network having a plurality of data input devices
connected thereto, said search engine system including at least one
computer and a database of entity data records, each data record
relating to a corresponding entity and containing one or more
entity attributes including at least one identifying characteristic
of said corresponding entity, said method including: receiving and
recording at least one search from at least one contact in a user
entity's personal contact network, said at least one contact's
search including at least one keyword, said personal contacts
network formed from contacts connected directly or indirectly to
the user entity, said connections recorded in entity data records
in said database; providing indicative information to said user
entity, said indicative information including search suggestions
derived from said at least one contact's search, wherein said
search suggestions including at least one said keyword derived
independently of said user entity inputting any search keyword;
receiving a selection of a said search suggestion by the user
entity; performing a search using said selected search suggestion,
and wherein said search suggestions are derived solely from said at
least one contact's search.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said searches include an
interrogation of a database via a network.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said data input devices
include mobile phones and said searches include a search of
web-sites via the Internet.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said search suggestions
include recent searches, including keywords used in said contact's
searches within a predetermined period of time.
5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said search suggestions
include popular searches, comprising keywords ranked as the most
popular keywords used in said searches.
6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said search suggestions
include keywords from searches by multiple contacts.
7. A method as claimed in claim 1, including the further step of
providing interrelationship context information to said user entity
from said user entity's personal contact network, the
interrelationship context information including a connection factor
between said user entity and said contact, the connection factor
indicative of the degree of separation between said contact and
said user entity.
8. A method as claimed in claim 1, including the further step of
providing interrelationship context information to said user
entity, the interrelationship context information including one or
more entity attributes of said contact.
9. A method as claimed in claim 1, including receiving a selective
input from the user entity to filter said search suggestions, said
selective input being a selection of contacts filtered according to
at least one filter criteria including: an elapsed period since the
suggestion creation, a predetermined activity, interrelationship
context information, a connection factor or entity attribute.
10. A method as claimed in claim 1, including notifying the user
entity which subsequent webpages are accessed by said contact when
the user entity accesses a first webpage previously accessed by
said contact.
11. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said indicative
information includes search suggestions weighting.
12. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user entity is
provided with an interface between the search engine system and the
personal contacts network unique to the user entity.
13. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein access to the
interrelationship context information between the user entity and
their contacts is restricted, the user entity defining the
restricted access.
14. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the search engine
system weights the search suggestions associated with the contacts
providing the search suggestions most frequently chosen by the user
entity.
15. A method as claimed in claim 1, including providing search
suggestions to a user entity, said method performed by a search
engine system accessible over a network, said network having a
plurality of data input devices connected thereto, said search
engine system including: at least one computer and a database of
entity data records, each data record relating to a corresponding
entity and containing one or more entity attributes including at
least one identifying characteristic of said corresponding entity,
said method including: receiving and recording at least one search
from at least one contact in the user entity's personal contact
network, said contact's search including at least one keyword;
providing indicative information to said user entity, said
indicative information including search suggestions derived from
said contact's search, wherein said search suggestions include at
least one said keyword, wherein said personal contacts network is
formed by: receiving input from said user entity including at least
one identifying characteristic of the user entity, recording said
identifying characteristic of said user entity in said
corresponding entity data record in said database, receiving input
from said user entity including at least one identifying
characteristic of other user entities for inclusion as a said
contact in said user entity's personal contact network, recording
said identifying characteristic of said contact in said user
entity's data record in said database, providing searchable access
to said user entity of at least part of the entity data records
stored in said database.
16. A method as claimed in claim 15, further including: notifying
each contact of their recordal on said system and requesting input
of at least one identifying characteristic of one or more further
entities known to said contact, recording the identifying
characteristic of each further entity inputted by said contact in
the contact's corresponding entity data record, repeating the above
steps of successive notification of further entities and recordal
of the identifying characteristic of each further entity in their
corresponding entity data record.
17. A method as claimed in claim 15, including: inviting said other
user entities to join said user entity's personal contact network,
recording in the user entity's entity data record the other user
entities joining said user entity's personal contact network as
contacts of the user entity.
18. A search engine system providing search suggestions to a user
entity, said search engine system accessible over a network, said
network having a plurality of data input devices connected thereto,
said search engine system including at least one computer and a
database of entity data records, each data record relating to a
corresponding entity and containing one or more entity attributes
including at least one identifying characteristic of said
corresponding entity, said computer programmed to: receive and
record at least one search from at least one contact in the user
entity's personal contact network, said contact's search including
at least one keyword, said personal contacts network formed from
contacts connected directly or indirectly to the user entity, said
connections recorded in entity data records in said database;
provide indicative information to said user entity, said indicative
information including search suggestions derived from said at least
one contact's search, wherein said search suggestions include at
least one said keyword derived independently of said user entity
inputting any search keyword; receiving a selection of a said
search suggestion by the user entity; performing a search using
said selected search suggestion, and wherein said search
suggestions are derived solely from said at least one contact's
search.
19. A method of providing search suggestions to a user entity, said
method performed by a search engine system accessible over a
network, said network having a plurality of data input devices
connected thereto, said search engine system including at least one
computer and a database of entity data records, each data record
relating to a corresponding entity and containing one or more
entity attributes including at least one identifying characteristic
of said corresponding entity, said method including the steps of:
receiving and recording at least one search from at least one
contact in the user entity's personal contact network, said at
least one contact's search including at least one keyword, said
personal contacts network formed from contacts connected directly
or indirectly to the user entity, said connections recorded in
entity data records in said database; preceding a search being made
by said user entity with the provision of indicative information
including search suggestions derived from said contact's search,
wherein said search suggestions include at least one said keyword;
receiving a selection of a said search suggestion by the user
entity; performing a search using said selected search suggestion,
and wherein said search suggestions are derived solely from said at
least one contact's search.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to a means for enhancing a
search engine and in particular, providing search-related
information derived from one or more entities known to the
user.
BACKGROUND ART
The interconnectivity of individuals and organisations has
increased exponentially in recent times with the advent of various
telecommunication means, including the Internet. The very success
in information availability and distribution afforded by the
Internet has placed a premium on effective means of identifying
information relevant or interesting to the user. Internet search
engines are the most prevalent means of extracting relevance from
the ever expanding wealth of internet material. However, the
majority of search engines suffer from numerous shortcomings.
The sheer volume of information available on even the most esoteric
subjects requires search engines to filter and prioritise the
search results. The mechanisms by which this ranking is achieved
include: a) Keyword frequency and meta tags; b) Professional
editors manually evaluating sites; c) How much advertisers are
prepared to pay, and d) Measuring which web-sites webmasters think
are important. This is done by link analysis, which gives more
weighting to sites dependant on what other sites are linked to
them.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,675 (enclosed herein by reference) discloses a
means of refining searches according to the behaviour of previous
users performing the same search. While this removes the web-site
from its sole dependency of the above criteria a)-d) for its
ranking, it is still driven by the influence of the whole web
populous, whose interests and tastes may differ greatly from a
given individual user.
It would be desirable to provide a means of influencing the ranking
or weighting of search results according to the preferences of
entities (individuals, groups or organisations) deemed of more
relevance or importance to the user.
PCT/NZ02/00199 (incorporated herein by reference) also by the
present applicant discloses a personal contact network system
whereby a user may form a network of contacts known either directly
or indirectly to the user. The network may be used for a variety of
applications and takes advantage of the innate human trait to give
a higher weighting to the opinions of those entities with whom a
common positive bond is shared, such as friendship.
As outlined in patent application PCT/NZ02/00199, incentives to
restrict the distribution and flow of information within a network
(or the search results of a search engine) include obtaining some
form of filtering of irrelevant, useless, unwanted, offensive,
intrusive or in any way undesirable information or interaction with
other nodes/entities. Humans consciously and subconsciously already
utilise such filtering in their daily life by placing greater
weighting on information from friends and acquaintances than from
unfamiliar sources.
Throughout virtually every aspect of human life, economic, social,
personal and business decisions are either directly or indirectly
affected by the preferences, tastes and actions of our friends,
colleagues and acquaintances. This is in contrast to widely
accepted economic theory in the fields of, for example, consumer
purchases where it is assumed individuals make rational choices
based upon the available product or service information. In actual
fact, a recommendation or an adverse comment from a close trusted
acquaintance regarding a specific product will often override other
factors in a commercial purchase decision, rightly or not. There
are many other areas in which the opinions of respected
acquaintances or even organisations can affect the decision making
of individuals or organisations.
Examples of just a few applications or activities in which trusted
or respected contacts or recommendations play a significant role
include seeking employment and filling job vacancies, investment
opportunities, academic co-operation, finding accommodation or
people to share accommodation with, buying and selling goods and
services, arranging social/sporting functions, finding friendship,
romantic and/or social relationships and so forth.
Contemporary living has confronted many individuals with a daily
surplus of information. This bewildering array of choices and
decisions vies for the individual's attention in almost every
aspect of their work, recreation, and social lives. The vast
majority of information sources received by most individuals is
biased to some extent by commercial interests. Consequently, there
is at least the perception the information may be incomplete,
misleading or false. The lack of independent objectivity from these
information sources leads to skepticism and/or a sense of futility,
helplessness, or ambivalence in obtaining worthwhile advice. In
contrast, a recommendation by a trusted friend of a particular
product, service or the like, is likely to be given far greater
weighting. Such recommendations will often be accorded far greater
significance than any number of expensive, professionally produced,
and theoretically compelling advertisements/product
recommendations.
An individual may seek a friend's opinion on a variety of issues,
aside from commercial purchase issues. The choice of plumbers,
dentists, lawyers and other suppliers for example, may be strongly
influenced by personal recommendation. Whilst such specific choices
may only arise infrequently, friends and acquaintances are often in
frequent contact and may cover a wide range of matters, including
opinions/recommendations on issues such as books, films,
entertainment, restaurants, and many others.
It would thus be desirable to harness the recommendations, opinions
and discriminatory abilities of a user's friends, acquaintances (or
any other entity known directly or indirectly to the user) to
enhance the results of a search engine. It would also be desirable
to provide a user with indicative information derived from the
search activities conducted by the members of the user's unique
personal network.
All references, including any patents or patent applications cited
in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No
admission is made that any reference constitutes relevant prior
art. The discussion of the references states what their authors
assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the
accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly
understood that, although a number of prior art publications are
referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission
that any of these documents form part of the common general
knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
It is acknowledged that the term `comprise` may, under varying
jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an
inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and
unless otherwise noted, the term `comprise` shall have an inclusive
meaning--i.e. that it will be taken to mean an inclusion of not
only the listed components it directly references, but also other
non-specified components or elements. This rationale will also be
used when the term `comprised` or `comprising` is used in relation
to one or more steps in a method or process.
It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing
problems or at least to provide the public with a useful
choice.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become
apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of
example only.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
According to one aspect, there is provided a search engine system
capable of displaying indicative information to a user from
searches performed by one or more entities connected directly or
indirectly with the user,
In one embodiment, said entities are `user contacts`.
According to a further aspect, the present invention includes a
system providing the user with a private personal contacts network
of user contacts.
As used herein, the term `entity` or `entities` refers to any
individual, family, personal or organised network, organisation,
club, society, company, partnership, religion, or entity that
exists as a particular and discrete unit.
The term `search engine` is not necessarily restricted to Internet
search engines and may also include any other electronic data
search systems for interrogating databases and or networks.
Although the present invention is described herein with respect to
an Internet search engine, it should be understood this is for
exemplary purposes only and the invention is not necessarily
limited to internet application.
Preferably, each user contact includes a connection factor
indicative of the degree of separation between the user contact and
the user.
Preferably, said private personal contacts network provides
interrelationship context information between said entities and/or
between a user contact and the user, said interrelationship context
information including said connection factor and optionally one or
more entity attributes.
Preferably, said system entity attributes include at least one
identifying characteristic and optionally, information regarding
personal details, factors or interests; friends; relations; school
alumni; employment factors; business colleagues; professional
acquaintances; sexual preferences, persuasions, or proclivities;
sporting interests; entertainment, artistic, creative or leisure
interests; travel interests, commercial, religious, political,
theological or ideological belief or opinions; academic,
scientific, or engineering disciplines; humanitarian, social,
security/military or economic fields and any combination of
same.
Searches include any interrogation of a database via a network, in
particular a search of web-sites via the internet.
Preferably, each search includes user inputted keywords and an
output of search results.
Keywords may include one or more words, phrases, images and/or any
other alphanumeric characters.
In its broadest sense, the present invention provides two forms of
indicative information, namely search suggestions and search
results weighting. Whilst both forms of information are known,
neither has been previously derived from the search activities of
the user contacts.
Thus, according to a further aspect of the present invention, the
indicative information includes search suggestions, and/or search
results weighting derived from searches, search results, or other
network/internet-related activities of the user contacts.
This enables a powerful insight into the activities of the user
contacts which may be of direct relevance for a variety of reasons.
In the case of close friends (i.e. direct contacts) the suggestions
are likely to be in areas of similar interest to the user, or of
interest purely due to the existing relationship between the
entities. Similarly, if the linking interrelationship context
information between the entities and the user is a common entity
attribute of membership of a common organisation such as a large
company for example, the suggestions from the other entities may be
of relevance for commercial purposes.
According to one embodiment, said suggestions include, but are not
restricted to; recent searches denoting the most recent keywords or
search results (such as a list of web pages) associated with the
keywords used by the user contacts; recent web-sites denoting the
most recent web sites accessed by the user contacts either
directly, or via recent searches; popular web-sites denoting a
ranking of web sites most regularly visited by, and/or recommended
by the user contacts; popular searches denoting a ranking of the
most popular keywords or search results associated with the
keywords used by the user contacts, high-flying searches denoting a
list of keywords or search results associated with the keywords
ranked according to their rate of increase in the popular searches
ranking. high-flying web-sites denoting a list of web-sites ranked
according to their rate of increase in the popular web-sites
ranking. popular or recently accessed paid web listings.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, the
suggestions may be based on a selective input from the user
contacts filtered according to at least one filter criteria
including the elapsed period since the suggestion creation, the
interrelationship context information, the connection factor and/or
entity attributes of the contributing user contact
The suggestions may be displayed adjacent the search results or as
an optional toolbar or window with corresponding labelling or some
generic terms such as "What's Hot" or the like.
In order that very popular suggestions do not dominate for
prolonged periods, each suggestion may have an associated decay
factor. The decay factor may be a number between 0 and 1 and be
varied according to the nature of the suggestion is so that the
perceived popularity does not last indefinitely.
An automatic human response to viewing a listing or ranking is to
perceive greater importance of the results at the top of the list,
even if the order of the listing is stated as of being random or
un-prioritised. Thus, to overcome this inherent bias, greater
weighting may be applied to listings such as the search results or
the suggestions according to their position down a list, when
calculating their perceived popularity.
The present invention may make use of the private personal contacts
network system described in the earlier co-pending PCT application
PCT/NZ02/00199, which discloses means for creating such a network,
operating same, and a range of possible applications. Numerous
methods of enhancing the quality of the search results provided by
search engines according to particular search queries are known,
including those disclosed in the applicant's earlier patents U.S.
Pat. No. 6,421,675, U.S. Ser. No. 10/155,914, U.S. Ser. No.
10/213,017 NZ518624 PCT/NZ02/00199 and NZ528385, which may be
utilised by the present invention and thus incorporated herein by
reference.
Preferably, in addition to a connection factor indicative of the
separation between an entity and the user, said interrelationship
context information optionally also includes a connection factor
indicative of the separation between user contacts in said private
personal contacts network.
It will be appreciated that there is a distinct difference in the
present invention between organised networks and personal contacts
networks. An organised network forms a group/organisation with
defined memberships who all have a common aim, or interest such as,
commercial organisations, companies, corporations or groupings;
political parties; academic or engineering institutes; sporting
bodies and so forth. Thus, all organised network members have at
least one common entity attribute, i.e. membership of the organised
network.
In contrast, a personal contacts network is formed from contacts
with friends and colleagues that are unique to an individual. Thus,
an individual user of the present invention may be linked to other
entity's personal contacts networks and be linked (or even be a
member of) organised networks. The present invention provides the
flexibility to regard organised networks such as a commercial
company or an institute of engineers as a single user contact with
various entity attributes relating to the whole
company/organisation, an/or to consider the individual members of
the organised networks as individual user contacts with at least
one common entity attribute. Which of these options is followed may
be varied according to the nature of the search being undertaken by
the user.
Preferably, access to the interrelationship context information
between the user and said entities may be restricted. According to
one aspect of the present invention, said restricted access is
defined by the user.
Preferably, each said identifying characteristic includes the
entity's name and preferably a means of contacting the entity,
including an e-mail address; telephone and/or facsimile number;
postal address and/or any communication means capable of
individually communicating with the entity or any combination of
such means.
Preferably, said identifying characteristics also optionally
include at least one of said entity attributes.
Optionally, said identifying characteristics may include
supplementary attributes of said user or entity.
Preferably, an entity becomes part of the network system by
independent registration or by accepting an invitation from a
registered entity, i.e. a user contact.
Entities agreeing to inclusion in a user's personal contacts
network are said to be direct user contacts. According to one
embodiment, entities included in the database system which are
indirectly or unconnected to a user may become directly connected
by mutual agreement, preferably by one entity sending an invitation
and the other accepting. Potential users of such a system can be
reassured that they will be included in a private network whereby
only others with a common connection factor (e.g. friends, friends
of friends, or friends of friends of friends and so forth) will be
able to access their personal details if they choose to make them
available.
The present invention enables information flow not only between
immediate acquaintances, but also with the subsequent tiers of
entity acquaintances, e.g. friends of friends, friends of friends
of friends, and beyond to include even larger domains entities. The
core principles and elements of the invention, namely the ability
to transfer search and web-related information within a network
whose members are directly or indirectly known to the user, giving
an interrelationship context to any information transfer, may be
applied a diverse range of applications without need to adapt the
principles of operation.
As referred to herein, if two entities are linked through any
number of intermediate entities they are said to be "connected".
Furthermore, if two entities exist independently in the database
system or a personal contacts network with no intermediate entities
connecting them, they are said to be "disconnected".
In one embodiment, the said connection factor incorporates a
connection path length between two entities, given by the minimum
number of connections in a chain of entities separating two
entities.
In a further embodiment, the said connection factor incorporates
the degree of separation between two entities and is equal to the
shortest connection path length of all the available connection
paths between the entities, wherein an entity that is directly
connected to another entity is said to be a direct contact giving a
"1.sup.st degree contact," and has a connection path length of one;
two entities connected via one intermediate entity are said to be
"2.sup.nd degree contacts," and have a connection path length of
two, and wherein any two entities whose shortest connection path is
via "N-1" intermediate entities (if any), with a path length of "N"
are an "N.sup.th" degree contact, where "N" is an integer. Entities
having a 2.sup.nd or higher degree contact are said to be indirect
contacts, or indirectly connected.
According to one embodiment, the present invention is configured to
allow a user to apply a selective input to the user's suggestions
by using a filter criteria of controlling the value of N.sup.th
degrees contact of entities to be included, where N is a variable
determined by the user.
In a further embodiment, the filter criteria for said selective
input may be linked to a predetermined activity. Thus, if the user
is interested in a particular event, or activity, they may tailor
their user contacts to reflect particular aspects of the
predetermined activity.
Alternatively, a user engaged in one or more said predetermined
activities may specify the action to apply to all degrees of
contact in the user's personal contacts network, at any connection
path length, or the entire system network of all nodes, including
those who are not connected to the user.
Preferably, said applications include (but are not limited to)
consumer decisions, buying, selling, trading loaning; finding
flatmates/roommates, tenants; organising activities and events,
recommendations/opinions including those related to films, plays,
books, employment, services, tradesmen, accommodation, restaurants
and the like, comparison and explorations of common interests, e.g.
horse riding, snowboarding, etc; sharing peer-to-peer personal or
business creative work or content, e.g. photos, art-work,
literature, music; managing a club or society;
locating/supplying/"blacklisting" providers of goods or services;
business or technological advice unsuitable for publication;
recruitment, job-seeking; estate agents; venture capital;
collaborative ventures; referrals; police/security information
gathering/informants; event manager; address book manager;
headhunting; book mark service; spam filtering; car sharing; sales
leads; market entry advice; real-estate; sharing personal or
business files; company knowledge management; medical advice;
travel organiser, lending/borrowing; house-sitting; baby-sitting;
classified advertisements; finding musicians.
In addition, the present invention permits said selective input to
be received from networks outside the system network.
It will be appreciated that there are numerous potential reasons
for limiting the degrees of separation of entities used by the user
for any selective input, said reasons including, but not limited
to, social, economic, or political contexts such as trust,
discretion, interest, association, preference, shared experience,
ethnicity, religion, language, location, allegiance, alliance,
treaty, politics, or governance.
It will be appreciated there are numerous methods of customising
the selective input to the user's suggestions. In one embodiment,
the suggestions are a weighted average of direct contacts and
indirect contacts. In alternative embodiments, the selective input
may be defined by the user.
The user contacts associated with the suggestions most frequently
chosen by the user may be designated preferred user contacts. The
designation of preferred user contact may be performed directly by
the user, or calculated by the system by determining the user
contact associated with the most popular suggestions previously
selected by the user.
In yet further embodiments, the selective input may be at least
partially weighted to suggestions from the preferred user
contacts.
The search engine system effectively learns which user contact
suggestions the user prefers. These may not necessarily be direct
contacts of the user and may indirectly indicate a potential
similarity in interests or tastes with that entity. The present
invention thus provides a means (described more fully later) for
contacting the entity to further pursue the potential common
ground.
Alternatively, the selective input may be varied according to other
known factors regarding the user contact including the
interrelationship context information, the connection factor and/or
entity attributes associated with the contributing user
contact.
The user may for example balance the number (and degree of contact)
of user contacts to provide the selective input for the suggestions
against the variety and volume of the suggestions generated.
This present invention may readily be configured to specific items
or issues people search for such as news, pictures, books,
auctions, products, chat rooms, games, e-cards, investments, song
downloads, etc.
People naturally tend to share an interest in the same news items
as people in their social network (either personal contacts
networks or organisations). The present invention provides a
powerful means to sort news items according to the interests of the
direct user contacts for example, (or to optionally extend that to
2nd degree, 3rd degree, or further contacts or organised networks)
thus providing an effective filter for the thousands of available
stories on any given day.
It will be appreciated that during the initial use of the search
engine, there will not be any existing suggestions from user
contacts. Instead, the same searches may be populated by results
from searches from all the users of the search engine.
As previously discussed, in addition to providing suggestions to
the user, the present invention provides weighted search results.
This weighting may be provided in addition to, or instead of the
existing mechanisms, namely: Keyword frequency and meta tags;
Professional editors manually evaluating sites; How much
advertisers or web-sites are prepared to pay, and Measuring which
web-sites webmasters think are important. This is done by link
analysis, which gives more weighting to sites dependant on what
other sites are linked to them. The overall popularity, the
popularity of a sub set of users (e.g. NZ people, engineers) or the
user's own previous searches (as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
6,421,675)
The present invention determines the relevance of the search
results according to the preferences of the user's unique private
personal contacts network of contacts as discussed above. In a
similar manner to the means of generating the suggestions, the
search results associated with a keyword may be weighted according
to a selective input from the user contacts, including filter
criteria related to the interrelationship context information, the
connection factor and/or entity attributes associated with the
contributing user contact.
Thus for example, the user may give a stronger weighting for
1.sup.st degree contacts compared to 2.sup.nd degree contacts.
Using the example of a search under the keyword terms "holiday
destinations", the user could learn their network of contacts shows
a preference for skiing in the France during the winter and for the
Greek islands during summer. However, a different user may have
seen different results even if they live in the same location, and
even had the same occupations, as their personal contacts network
of contacts would inevitably be different, with consequently
different holiday preferences.
The search results may be further refined by specifying the
selective input filter criteria to include various entity
attributes relevant to the search such as a particular occupation,
sporting interest or the like. Conversely, if a particular set of
filter criteria closely match an entity disconnected from the user,
the system may prompt the user to prompt the entity to be connected
to the user
Equally, the system may prompt the user for communication (e.g.
e-mail, Instant messenger, phone etc) with a user contact who last
performed the search, or recommended a particular web-site/search
result. This communication may be via a link (e-mail or we link)
adjacent to the keyword search terms and/or web-sites and could be
configured to be either anonymous communication or not.
In one configuration for example, the user contact is not initially
identified to the user, though the user is identified in the e-mail
via some form of interrelationship context information such as the
connection factor/entity attribute e.g. your direct contact Rick
knows Sue (your 2.sup.nd degree contact who knows the sender
directly. The user contact may respond anonymously (via a web-site)
or reply to the e-mail including their direct e-mail address.
Self-evidently, most web-sites seek to maximise the number of users
visiting their site. The present invention provides a means for
web-sites to receive more web-traffic by promoting the search
engine to their customers.
According to one embodiment, a participating partner web-site (e.g.
a commercial retail web-site) is given a unique link (a URL, a
`clickable` graphic or search box) to the search engine, configured
such that users clicking on the search engine link are linked to a
search page with the participating web-site listed as the top of
the popular searches and/or recent web-sites suggestions
listing.
Any user accessing the search engine via this route who then
invites their user contacts to also use the search engine service
will also see that participating partner web-site listed and may
visit the site. Thus, the partner web-site may use the present
invention as a means of marketing themselves to the connected
entities of their existing customers.
It is also a means to increase utilisation of the present invention
by providing web-sites with an incentive to include a link to the
search engine without any direct drawback. Further web-sites may be
enticed to become partner web-sites and include a link to the
search engine if webmasters of web-sites already using the search
engine invite webmasters of other web-sites to use the search
service whereby in return both web-sites are listed under the
appropriate suggestions. Thus, each participating web-site has an
incentive to get other web-sites to use the search service as it
will generate more traffic for their own site.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, the search
service may also be configured to conduct searches solely of
material on the partner web-site instead of, or as well as `all
internet` searches. The partner web-site may also display a list of
suggestions either based on the generic search activities of all
users, or for users having their own private personal contacts
network, customised to reflect the suggestions associated by the
activities of their user contacts on the participating web-site. On
appropriate commercial web-sites, a recommendation to related
products to the one being searched for which were bought, viewed,
subscribed to and so forth may be made by previous user contacts to
the site.
The product or other search recommendations may not necessarily be
restricted to a single web-site, whereby the user may view relevant
searches previously accessed by their user contacts across a number
of (partner and non-partner) sites, thus increasing the
web-activity on all the web-sites involved.
For example on the `all internet search`, recommendations may
direct users to do a search on a partner web-site. This will
enhance traffic to the partner web-site. Similarly, on a partner
web-site, recommendations may direct users to do a search on the
`all internet search` or to another partner web-site.
A further aspect of the present invention is the method for a
partner web-site or broker to act as an intermediary between
advertisers (or representatives of advertisers) and sites which
feature the search engine and suggestions relevant to the
advertiser product(s), service(s), website(s), or company(ies).
In one embodiment, a partner web-site would offer a service
directly to advertisers or representatives of advertisers. They
could offer the advertiser two variations of advertising to the
users of the partner web-site. In one variation, the advertiser
suggestion(s) would be made available and seeded to all the users
of the partner web-site or a subset of them, and word of mouth
amongst those users and their contacts would help spread the
visibility of the suggestion(s), possibly in the form of
recommendations. In another variation, the advertiser suggestion(s)
would be seeded to those partner web-site users who had previously
shown interest or propensity to click on similar suggestion(s).
In another embodiment, the owner of the present invention could
provide the broker service as an intermediary between advertisers
and partner web-sites. Then the partner web-sites would not be
involved in the selection of advertisers and suggestions but would
simply make their user base available for the seeding of
suggestions and distribution of recommendations.
In a third embodiment, the owner of the present invention could
present it to firms currently working as brokers or providing web
search advertising directly, in which they sell sponsored search
results to advertisers at fixed-price or auction, while
guaranteeing the advertiser a certain position in the results
presented to a user who performs a search on the keyword purchased
by the advertiser. These firms would then be able to offer an
additional service, in which advertisers bid for or buy the right
to be included in suggestions to partner site users and individual
users or networks of users who have indicated an interest in or
shown a propensity to click on similar suggestions or
recommendations
Instead of using a full Internet web-browser window to access the
search engine, the user may download a toolbar that remains
resident through all the user's web-browser usage. Such
downloadable toolbars are known, however, the technology may be
enhanced by incorporation of the present invention. Firstly, in
known manner, the toolbar permits searches to be performed directly
from the user's web-browser without need to access a separate
search engine web-site. Secondly, the tool bar could also monitor
the web-sites accessed by the user directly without conducting a
keyword search as part of the determination of the suggestions data
and search weightings.
The tool bar may also display or provide access to the most recent
suggestions data from the user contacts.
The monitoring ability of the toolbar enables the system (with the
user's permission) to track the user's web-surfing activities to
all web-sites. Consequently, upon accessing a particular web-site,
the user may be optionally notified by the toolbar of their user
contacts who visited that site, and what a subsequent sites the
user contact accessed.
As an example;
1) A User is informed by a user contact X of a web-site Y related
to holiday homes in New Zealand.
2) The user accesses site Y and is notified on the toolbar that
(optionally) user contact X accessed this site, or (if the user
contact's identity is withheld) notified that when some of their
user contacts from their network accessed site Y, they also visited
site Z. User contact X may optionally have made a recommendation
regarding either site Y or Z, which is also notified to the user
via the toolbar.
3) The web-site Y and or Z can pay for the privilege of being at
the top of this notification list.
According to a further embodiment, the search engine may also be
configured to provide the user with notifications of further
specified occurrences, including access of a specified (or
book-marked) web-site by a user contact and/or an associated
recommendation to same, or further sites accessed after the
book-marked site, or of any new material at, or links to, the
specified site.
It will be appreciated that all the above-described features
associated with the toolbar may also be performed by the full
search engine.
As the weighted search results and suggestions are correlated to
social networks and to the entity's individual identity, an
enhancement of the recommendations feature it is possible to allow
individual users to make comments in an appraisal regarding
web-sites accessed via the search engine.
In a further embodiment, the search engine includes means for
linking an appraisal with a search result and/or suggestion.
Preferably said appraisal may include a recommendation (optionally
graded) and/or user comments.
In one embodiment, said appraisals are performed via links
associated with individual results on search results listing.
Alternatively, the appraisals may be performed whilst accessing the
search result or suggestion web-site via a link to the search
engine. Thus, users could be invited to "comment on current site"
which may typically involve identifying sites as particularly
useful, useless, curious, or to be avoided and so forth.
The user comments may be in the form of unrestricted typed comments
and/or selected from a predetermined list of appraisal gradings.
Such predetermined gradings may be used to provide further filter
criteria for suggestions or weighted search results, e.g. only show
suggestions for web-sites given a good or interesting appraisal
grading, or alternatively, ignore "useless" appraisal gradings from
user contact X.
The appraisals are only visible to user contacts within the
personal or organised networks to which the commentator belongs.
Optionally, the commentator could include their identity or a means
to contact them via the search service. A user inputting user
comments on a healthcare site may state, "This really worked well
for me, but there are some things to watch out for. Get in touch if
you'd like to discuss. Click to contact."
It is noteworthy that by comparison, a comparable system that
allows unrestricted public annotations to web-sites and search
results would not be trustworthy or useful because there is no
confidence in the identity or character of the annotator. As an
example, an annotation that a particular product or service is a
"good" or "bad" one would lack credibility without any assurance
that the annotator does not work for the company or for a
competitor.
The feature of adding recommendations or appraisals may be readily
extended to relate to issues not directly related to the web-site
itself, as these comments will only be accessible to the user
contacts in the user's personal contacts network. An infinite range
of comments are possible, e.g. "A great book; borrow mine if you
like", "This album rocks. Don't listen to it after 10 pm or you'll
be dancing on your bed", "Nice car but spare parts take months to
find in NZ", "John O'Neill can eat all those tickets in a salad for
all I care", "Careful, this is a scam" and so forth.
The feature of user recommendations may also be used as a factor in
weighting the search results. As previously discussed, prior art
search engines allow users to submit web-sites they consider should
be included in the results for a given keywords. However, this
system can be open to abuse by webmasters trying to obtain higher
rankings for their web-sites.
In contrast, the present invention allows users to make
recommendations (positive or negative) for web-sites that would
cause their ranking to alter in a list of sites for particular
keyword searches or suggestions for their network of contacts. The
search engine system incorporates feedback on the efficacy of the
recommendations by the reaction of the user contacts. If the user's
contacts concurred with the recommendations by active or
automatically calculated affirmations (either by active voting or
passively by clicking on the recommended web-site), the
recommendation could be propagated through the entities in the
social network.
A key advantage of the present invention over prior art systems of
submissions to a search engine Webmaster is the discouragement for
low quality submissions. Firstly they would have little effect
other than degrading the search for the user's own personal
contacts network of user contacts. Secondly, there is little
incentive if the user responsible for repeatedly submitting low
quality, misleading or otherwise dubious recommendations is
identifiable to their user contacts.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, users are
accorded a predetermined number of recommendations according to a
predetermined user recommendation credibility criteria. In one
embodiment, said recommendation credibility may be determined by
active or automatic affirmations of said user recommendations by
the user contacts. Alternative recommendation credibility criteria
may include a fixed quota of recommendation over a specified time
period, or linked to particular entity attributes for
recommendations for web-sites associated with said entity
attributes.
Thus, the recommendation credibility criteria may be determined
according to a number of factors including (but not limited to)
users who prove to their user contacts to submit germane
recommendations may `earn` the ability to make additional
recommendations; each user may be give a fixed quota over a given
time period, e.g. 10 recommendation per month; a user with a entity
attribute particularly relevant to a particular search topic, e.g.
a consultant paediatrician would be eligible for more
recommendations for results associated with keyword searches such
as "childhood illnesses" and the like. the size and quality of the
user's personal social network, e.g. if they are linked to a lot of
users that also have a high credibility.
A further and potentially very significant advantage is returning a
sense of control over the search results to the users according to
their own personal experiences and opinions of the web-sites. It is
a common complaint of prior art search engines that the results for
particular keywords appear illogical or distorted and that new or
emerging web-sites or those without significant financial/lobbying
resources fail to achieve worthwhile rankings. The present
invention replaces the search engine's external control over the
search results and empowers the users to provide meaningful
rankings. For example, a user having a personal web-site can
maintain the site as the top ranked result for the user and the
user contacts for certain keywords, e.g. the user's name. The same
keyword search by a different entity in a different social network
could give a different search result--though this would be more
relevant to them.
The present invention can also be used to create a list of searches
(both within and outside the user's private network of contacts)
that have unsatisfactory or no search results. Some conscientious
users may undertake to locate relevant search results to overcome
deficiencies for particular keywords to help their user contacts
and these results can be stored and reused. Consequently, the
search results continuously improve over time. Users who provide
such submissions could increase their recommendation credibility to
increase how many recommendations they are permitted and optionally
how far the sites are propagated. The recommendation credibility
for a user could also be linked to their number of user contacts,
and/or the number of times people have clicked on suggestion
submissions etc.
A further search engine service of the present invention provides
an e-mail to users when another user contact has found some
pertinent results for a previous search term used by the user.
Often, individuals within a company or an organised network (e.g.
professional association, or club) will perform similar searches.
This searching work is likely to be useful to others in the same
organised network. For example someone in an engineering company
searching for data on a particular material may find a particularly
relevant research report. The search engine can store these search
terms and results and accord them a higher ranking for other users
from the company or organised network performing the same search.
This type of `in-house` search activity may be used to create a
corresponding list of suggestions specific to the members of the
organised network/company.
As per the private network searches, the search engine system can
be configured to include a contact link adjacent the search results
and search terms to permit contact with others in the company to
discuss search results of relevance. The contact may again be
anonymous or not.
In comparison to a conscientious user in a private network
addressing deficiencies in a result for a particular search, a
commercial company or organisation may task an individual with such
a task to ensure homogeneity and reliability for in-house data
resources.
A peripheral benefit for companies/organised in sharing results via
the present invention is that it doesn't add an additional burden
on the amount of work already being undertaken by the network
members and in many instances will reduce unnecessary duplication
of effort. The search engine may also be integrated into any
existing Intranet search within the organised network.
Numerous refinements may also be incorporated in to the present
invention according to the particular requirements of the
users.
A fundamental requirement for ensuring the search engine users
engage in meaningful information sharing via the suggestions and
search results weighting is to provide the users with the power to
discriminate what web-activities contribute, or are discernable to
user contacts in their private network. A user searching for new
employment or concerned about a potential serious illness affecting
their spouse for example may not want any of the details to be
visible to their user contacts.
Thus, according to a further aspect of the present invention, the
user may optionally select web or search activity for exclusion
from contributing to said indicative information.
There are many possible configurations by which this feature may be
implemented, e.g. having two search buttons labelled "private
network search" and "Don't share this search" or "private search".
This enables users to still conduct searches without being recorded
for their user contacts to share. Alternatively, a simple "private
search" check box may be used.
In a further embodiment, partner web-sites may use their own
branded versions of the search engine. Thus, instead of just having
their URL link at the top of the popular/recent web-sites
suggestions list, the link could be customised to show the search
engine with the partner web-site's brand/banner/logo at the top of
the page together with use of their colours/fonts, layout etc.
According to a yet further aspect, the present invention provides
the ability for a user to delete searches or web-activity from
incorporation in said indicative information. This may be used to
remove information inadvertently included, or to information which
appears to the user with hindsight to be unhelpful, misleading or
similar. In a further embodiment, each user is provided with an
editable history log of every search they have performed and each
web-site visited. The user may edit their history log and remove
any search they did from the list of searches that are shared with
their contacts, though deletion of searches initiated by the user
contacts may not be edited.
In a commercial organisation or organised network, the search
engine may be configured to disable any editing of the user's
history log and or preventing any search or web-activity from being
included in the indicative information complied by the search
invention and discernable to the user contacts. This peer-awareness
of the web-activities of the organisation's members may be used to
ensure any inappropriate or unauthorised misuse of internet access
may be effectively policed through social feedback, irrespective of
any overt disciplinary measures available.
Prior art search engines prompt users of additional searches that
were also performed by previous searchers performing the same
keyword search, in an analogous manner, the present invention may
provide the similar prompts though with the additional feature than
the user may be notified of the previous user contacts that also
performed the same keyword search.
In a further embodiment, users can submit recommendations for sites
limited to specific keywords. A user may for example be
recommending a specific site, though only when their company name
is one of the keywords used. If the subsequent evaluation of the
site by the user contacts is positive, with possible positive
appraisal/recommendations, the web site may enhance its ranking in
networks outside the user's personal contacts network.
Although a user may have a number of directly connected user
contacts for example, each may have particular strengths or
weaknesses with regard to different searches the user may wish to
undertake. Thus, the weighting of individual user contacts may be
passively/automatically or actively adjusted based on various
criteria such as usefulness of their browsing, reliability of
results, their personal tastes, any entity attribute known to the
system.
As examples, it may be know that user contact A has a passionate
aversion to a particular software multinational and thus their
recommended or accessed web-sites related to software may reflect
this bias, and thus the user de-weights any input from user contact
A for software searches. User contact B may produce excellent
recommendations or searches during working hours but only accesses
gaming web-sites out of work hours. The indicative information
input from user contact B may thus be de-weighted outside a certain
time period.
In a further embodiment, a user may make use of a more active
approach to alerting their user contacts to discovering
particularly notable web-sites, rather than the more passive
inclusion of the site on the search engine suggestions entries in
the conventional manner. This may be achieved in a variety of ways,
such as altering the appearance of the site in the suggestions
listing e.g. being bolded, different coloured, appearing in a
separate list and/or being e-mailed directly to the user contact.
The suggestions listings themselves may also be distributed to
other user contacts and even to unconnected entities via e-mail or
phone message texts.
The present invention could also be used as a replacement mechanism
for the widespread e-mailing of jokes and the like between friends
and workmates. Essentially, web-sites accessed by the user and
rated accordingly are replaced by e-mails (optionally with
attachments) containing the material to be distributed to all the
user contacts. Optionally, distribution may be filtered according
to its rating by the user and subsequently by the user contacts,
the various entity attributes of the user contacts or the degree of
contact with the entity. Using the present invention in this manner
ensures no one is e-mailed the same material twice and potentially
offensive material is not sent to the wrong user contact. It will
be appreciated that the material need not be jokes, but may instead
be any form of information, including text, images, and audio
recordings. The system may be configured such that such e-mails may
be forwarded to a specific link associated with the search engine
and the subsequent distribution is handled automatically.
In a further embodiment, the present invention incorporates a
book-marking system, whereby a user accessing a notable web-site
may use a book-marking feature on the search engine web-site or
toolbar to add the bookmarked web-site to a compilation list of
other bookmarked sites deemed to be of sufficient interest to the
user that they are permanently retained on the list so as to be
continually accessible and available.
The present invention may also be used to aid blogging communities
to create trusted search tools for blog content.
According to a further aspect of the present invention there is
provided a search engine system capable of displaying indicative
information to a user from searches performed by entities (or as
`user contacts`) connected directly or indirectly with the user,
wherein said system includes; at least one host computer processor
connectable to one or more network(s), a database accessible over
said network(s), a plurality of data input devices connectable to
said network(s), a search engine accessible over said network(s),
wherein said system is capable of forming said private personal
contacts network for each of one or more users by receiving input
from the said user including at least one identifying
characteristic of the user and of one or more chosen entities known
to said user, recording said identifying characteristic of each
entity including the user to form one or more corresponding entity
data records in said database, notifying the or each chosen entity
of their recordal on said system and requesting input of at least
one identifying characteristic of one or more further entities
known to the or each said chosen entity, recording the identifying
characteristic of each further entity inputted by the or each said
chosen entity to form further corresponding entity data records,
repeating the above steps of successive notification of further
entities and recordal of the identifying characteristic of each
further entity chosen as further entity data records, providing
searchable access to at least part of the entity data records
stored in said database and to the internet.
Searchable access to an entity data record may be restricted by the
entity to said user contacts.
Preferably, said data input devices are computer terminals, PDAs,
telephones, mobile phones, laptops, notebooks, any other portable
personal computing device connectable to said network, preferably
but not limited to the internet.
Said data input devices may provide webpage, e-mail, text message,
DTMF tone, voice or video access to the said host computer or
between entities and/or web-browsing access to said host computer
via a dedicated web-site interface.
The additional data obtained from the entity's identifying
characteristics may be used to provide users with the means of
obtaining information related to specific search applications from
within their own unique extended private personal contacts network
of contacts.
According to a further aspect of the present invention there is
provided a method of creating a private personal contacts network
for interaction with a search engine system as described above,
said method including the steps performed by a processor of a data
processing and storage system, of: receiving input from the said
user including at least one identifying characteristic of the user
and at least one chosen entity known to said user and hereinafter
referred to as a user contact; recording said identifying
characteristic of each user contact including the user to form at
least one corresponding user contact data record in said database;
notifying the or each user contact of their recordal on said system
and requesting input of at least one identifying characteristic of
at least one further entity known to the user contact; recording
the identifying characteristic of each further entity inputted by
the or each user contact to form further corresponding user contact
data records; repeating the above steps of successive notification
of further entities and recordal of the identifying characteristic
of each further entity chosen as further user contact data records;
providing searchable access to at least part of the user contact
data records stored in said database.
It can thus be seen that the present invention provides a means of
combining and enhancing the attributes of the earlier search engine
and private network systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,675
and PCT application PCT/NZ02/00199 together with the addition of a
powerful set of new inventive features to provide a customisable
search engine, with social feedback.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Further aspects of the present invention will become apparent from
the following description which is given by way of example only and
with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1. shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention in
the form of a home web-page of an internet search engine;
FIG. 2. shows an extension of the suggestion fields shown in FIG.
1;
FIG. 3. shows a web-page listing of search results obtained using
the present invention of a search engine;
FIG. 4. shows a login screen of the present invention;
FIG. 5. shows a membership invitation form for the present
invention, and
FIG. 6. is a schematic representation of a preferred embodiment of
the present invention.
BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a means of harnessing
the discriminatory powers of the knowledge, opinions and
recommendations of an entity's extended network of contacts in an
efficient and systematic manner to provide an effective means of
searching the internet (or other databases) with social feedback
from the user's personal contacts network. There are numerous
potential applications for the present invention of which the
examples described in more detail below are by way of illustration
only.
FIGS. 1-5 show a preferred embodiment of the present invention in
the form of an Internet search engine (1) capable of conventional
"all internet" searches or optionally, being customised to display
indicative information from entities connected directly or
indirectly with the user (2). Any such entity connected to the user
(2) in this manner is referred to as a user contact. In the
embodiment shown, all the entities comprising the user contacts are
individuals, though it will be appreciated that an entity may also
be any individual, family, personal or organised network,
organisation, club, society, company, partnership, religion, or
entity that exists as a particular and discreet unit. The operation
of the search engine (1) in the performance of standard,
uncustomised "all internet" searches is well known to those in the
art and is not discussed further herein.
In a departure from prior art search engines, the present invention
search engine (1) includes a plurality of suggestions (3). FIG. 1
shows an embodiment with four types of suggestions (3), consisting
of recent searches (4), recent sites (5), popular searches (6) and
popular sites (7). Each of these suggestions (3) displays
indicative information from the user contacts. It will be
appreciated that numerous alternative suggestions may be used
without departing from the scope of the invention.
While the present invention (1) may use any user (2) to supply the
indicative information for the suggestions (3), in the preferred
embodiment shown, this information is derived from the user
contacts with whom the user (2) has some existing relationship, and
are members of a private network (not shown), associated with the
user (2). The private network (as more fully described in the
co-pending application by the same applicant, PCT/NZ02/00199)
enables the user (2) to characterise the relationship between
themselves and their personal user contacts and to filter/manage
interaction with the user contacts according to the
interrelationship context information defining the relationship. In
a preferred embodiment, the interrelationship context information
includes a connection factor and one or more entity attributes. The
connection factor provides a measure of the degree of separation
between the user (2) and the user contact, i.e. user contacts known
directly to the user (2) may be termed "direct contacts" whilst
user contacts known to the user (2) via one or more intermediary
user contacts are known as "indirect contacts". Any 2 entities
having no intermediate contacts said to be "disconnected".
Therefore, it can be seen that direct contacts can be termed a
1.sup.st order contact whilst their own direct contacts will become
2.sup.nd order contacts to the user (2) (unless they are also
direct contacts of the user (2) as well) and so forth.
The suggestions (3) showed in FIG. 1 represent the web-related
activities of the user contacts. The particular user contacts
providing data for the suggestions (3) may be filtered or weighted
according to the individual connection factor with the user (2).
The system also records at least one entity attribute (not shown)
for each of the user contacts as part of the interrelationship
context information, and this may include a variety of personal
details, information regarding personal details, factors or
interests; friends; relations; school alumni; employment factors;
business colleagues; professional acquaintances; sexual
preferences, persuasions, or proclivities; sporting interests;
entertainment, artistic, creative or leisure interests; travel
interests, commercial, religious, political, theological or
ideological belief or opinions; academic, scientific, or
engineering disciplines; humanitarian, social, security/military or
economic fields and any combination of same.
The entity attributes may also form part of the eligibility
criteria for the user contact to contribute to the suggestions (3).
Regarding the individual suggestions (3), the recent searches (4)
denote the most recent keywords (8) used by the user contacts. The
search engine (1) may be configured so that the searches by the
user (2) are also shown in the recent searches (4) window, giving a
real-time indication to the user (2) of the rate of new searches
appearing in the recent searches (4) window. An expanded listing
(including previous entries) of suggestions (3) may be accessed by
a link (9) which leads to the search engine (1) web-page shown in
FIG. 2.
The popular searches (6) show a ranking of the most popular
keywords (8) used by the user contacts, whilst the popular
web-sites (7) show a ranked list of web-sites (10) most regularly
visited and/or recommended by the user contacts. The home web-page
of the search engine (1) as shown in FIG. 1, also includes the
keyword entry field (11) and 2 alternative settings to record each
search as either "a shared search (12)", or "a private search
(13)". Clicking on the "shared search link" (12) configures the
search engine to record the keywords (8) inputted by the user (2)
for inclusion in the recent searches (4) and also the listing of
web-sites resulting from the search, and any sites accessed
thereafter by the user (2) for inclusion in the recent sites (5)
listing. FIG. 3 shows the resulting search results (14) for the
keyword (8) "skateboard". It can also be seen that in the recent
searches (4) field the term "skateboard" is the most recent keyword
(8). In contrast, the popular searches (6) shows the "skateboard"
as the second most popular search keyword (8), indicating that
despite its recent use, the term "flowboard" has been used more
frequently as a keyword (8). If the user (2) clicks the private
search link (13), none of the user's (2) activities would be
recorded by the system (1).
The initial search engine (1) web-page shown in FIG. 1 also
includes links (9) to invite entities to join the user's (2)
network and links (9) to configure/see the user's (2) network (15,
16 respectively). A further link (17) provides the login/logout
feature of incorporating the user's (2) personal contacts network
to interact with the search engine (1).
It can also be seen in FIG. 3 that the search for a keyword (8)
skateboard has also yielded a listing of "related web searches
found" (18). These related web searches (18) show searches also
performed by the user contacts in conjunction with searches for the
keyword (8) skateboard.
In contrast to prior art search engines, the suggestions (3) have
far greater significance to the user (2) as the opinions of the
user contacts are far more likely to be of greater significance and
given more credibility by the user (2) than suggestions (3)
emanating from data collected from any ordinary user of the search
engine (1). As previously referred to, the user contacts
contributing to the suggestions (3) may be unrestricted, i.e. all
contacts contribute equally, or configurable by the user (2) to
give a preference or weighting to specific user contacts. This may
be based on a variety of factors including the connection factor,
(e.g. choosing direct contacts to provide twice the number of
suggestions (3) than 2.sup.nd degree contacts), and/or relating to
an entity attribute, e.g. the search for the keyword (8) skateboard
may be supplemented by filtering the user contacts for the
suggestions (3) according to an entity attribute of "an interest in
skateboarding".
A user (2) may find particular user contacts provide interesting
selections and/or relevant web-sites and consequently may be given
a higher weighting by placing their suggestions (3) higher up the
listings and/or providing a greater number of inputs. In a further
aspect of the preferred embodiment, the user contacts and the user
(2) are provided with a number of recommendations (not shown).
These may be used to increase the ranking of particular web-sites
for keyword (8) searches (optionally, recommendations may be tied
to particular keywords (8)) and/or may be used to promote sites in
the popular sites (7) field.
The number of recommendations given to each user contact may be
fixed or varied according to several eligibility criteria. These
may include positive feedback from other user contacts (either by
active recommendations or by automatic/passive affirmations
resulting from user contacts accessing the recommended web-sites
submitted). Alternatively, they may be re-issued after a given time
period. User contacts with particular entity attributes associated
with specific keywords (8), may also be given additional
recommendations, e.g. a computer software reviewer may be given
supplementary recommendations to appear in the related web search
field (18) and/or associated with particular searches and specific
software-related keywords (8).
The present invention also provides a means of contacting the user
contacts responsible for particular keywords (8) or suggestions (3)
and/or those having accessed a particular web-site irrespective of
whether it appears in the suggestions (3) field. This contact may
be anonymously or, via an intermediary web-site or anonymous e-mail
or alternatively, the users (2) may agree to their identity being
shown by the system (1).
The ability of the present invention to apply selective input and
filtering from the activities of the user contacts is also of
interest for further web searching and/or information gathering by
the user (2) and also reduces potential time wasted on unproductive
searches and helps to more rapidly find relevant results.
The indicative information provided by the user contacts will also
be used to weight search results (14) associated with a particular
keyword (8). The search weighting may be performed by active
recommendations from individual user contacts, thereby promoting
particular web-sites or by passive/automatic feedback, as described
in the earlier U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,675 (and associated
applications). U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,675 discloses a powerful means
of weighting search results according to the behaviour of the
user's accessing results listing. According to those criteria, a
site may be deemed more useful if a user accesses the link and
either remains on the site for a predetermined time and/or performs
other actions indicating the site has relevance, i.e. downloading
material, following related links, reading additional pages or
subscribing to material at the site. Conversely, if a web-site is
accessed and immediately exited, this implies the site was of
little relevance for the search keyword. These techniques may also
be incorporated in the present invention in addition to the
refinement of giving increased weighting according to which
entities performed the search, i.e. the user contacts. Thus, the
selections and associated searches performed by a direct contact
may be considered of greater significance than an indirect contact
and/or the behaviour of an unconnected entity and used to weight
the results accordingly.
In a further embodiment, the features of the search engine (1), and
in particular the suggestions (3) may be combined into a minimised
toolbar which forms part of a stay-resident program running in
conjunction with the user's (2) web-browser (not shown). The
toolbar may also monitor the web-sites visited by the user (2) and
in turn suggest additional web-sites that have previously been
accessed by other user contacts who have also visited the same site
and/or performed the same searches leading to that site.
In a further embodiment (not shown), the search engine (1) may be
customised to be the search engine for a particular web-site and
have the option of restricting the search to the material on the
host web-site. A corresponding list of suggestions (3), may thus be
created relating to the activity of the user's (2) user contacts
who have visited the web-site. The suggestions (3) may be expanded
to include lists of products either accessed and/or recommended by
the user contacts.
The present invention may also be used with organised networks such
as companies, institutes, or any other network whereby all the
members have at least one common entity attribute and connection
factor, i.e. they are all members of an organisation and are direct
contacts respectively. The present invention provides the
capability of treating such organised networks as either a single
entity, with its own collective entity attributes, or as a
collection of individual user contacts, each having the organised
network as a common entity attribute. Numerous refinements are
possible with the present invention such as the ability for the
users (2) to actively mark web-sites of particular merit by
ensuring their appearance in the suggestions (3) is suitably
distinct (e.g. in a different font, or bold, or the like) and/or by
sending an e-mail to chosen user contacts alerting to the web-site.
It will be seen that before the user (2) has any user contacts
registered for use with the system and able to impact on the web
activities and searches of the user (2), it will be necessary to
populate the suggestions (3) fields from non user contact entities.
Even when sufficient user contacts are available, such disconnected
entities may still be used to contribute to the suggestions (3) if
so desired by the user (2).
Nevertheless, the paramount aspects of the benefits of the present
invention relate to the incorporation of the personal private
network for the user (2). In order to access this feature of the
search engine (1), the user (2) uses the login/logout link (17)
which leads to the web-page (21) shown in FIG. 4. Existing users
(2) enter their e-mail and password (19) whilst new users deciding
to sign up to the network submit their first and last name,
preferred e-mail address, location and new password via
corresponding input fields (20). Upon joining the search engine (1)
registered members, the user (2) may then invite his or her
acquaintances to become members, i.e. their user contacts.
Alternatively, the user (2) who themselves have been invited to
join the system by an existing member. FIG. 5 shows a web-page form
(22) for inviting entities currently unconnected to the user's (2)
network to join.
It will be appreciated that the present invention may be
implemented in numerous physical configurations. Although the
present invention may be implemented in any suitable environment
with a searchable database on a network, the preferred embodiment
as shown in FIG. 6 is described with respect to use on the internet
(23) in which a plurality of users (not shown) may access the
search engine (1) through the internet (23) via a plurality of user
sites (24) such as personal computers, laptops, mobile phones, PDAs
or the like.
It will be appreciated that FIG. 1 is symbolic only and that the
internet (2) is actually composed of a multitude of user sites (24)
and that searchable data may be obtained from a plurality of data
sources (25). It will be appreciated that the data sources (25) may
represent numerous data sources including one or more personal
contact networks (26) individually associated with one or more
users. Moreover, although the search engine (1) is depicted as a
single device, it may be distributed across a network environment
including one or more data storage means (not shown), databases,
server computers, processors and although these are not explicitly
shown, they are generically represented and encompassed by
representation of the search engine (1).
Aspects of the present invention have been described by way of
example only and it should be appreciated that modifications and
additions may be made thereto without departing from the scope
thereof.
* * * * *
References